The Contribution of Tourism to Sustainable Rural Development in Peripheral Mining Spaces: The Riotinto Mining Basin (Andalusia, Spain)

María Bahamonde-Rodríguez, Giedrė Šadeikaitė and Francisco Javier García-Delgado ()
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María Bahamonde-Rodríguez: Research Group Local Development Institute, University of Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain
Giedrė Šadeikaitė: Department of Human Geography, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, 03080 Alicante, Spain
Francisco Javier García-Delgado: Research Group Local Development Institute, University of Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-30

Abstract: Since the middle of the 20th century, the crisis of industrial mining activities in Western Europe has caused the cessation of mining, triggering a structural crisis. The necessity to look for alternatives has been widely discussed; among these alternatives, tourist activities based on mining heritage stand out. However, it is essential to address the study of those unattractive peripheral spaces in which new activities encounter obstacles to their development and face post-industrial and rural crises. The Riotinto Mining Basin (Huelva, Andalusia) represents an example of such rural spaces; it has an enormous cultural heritage, and the mine has recently been reactivated. The objective of this research is to analyze the contribution of mining tourism to sustainable rural development. The applied methodology was mixed and was based on interviews and secondary data. The results are (a) the achievement of the tourism value of the mining heritage; (b) the difficulties tourism faces in overcoming its peripheral condition; (c) the relative contribution of tourism to the improvement of the territorial image; (d) the lack of coordination among stakeholders; and (e) the limited contribution of tourism to sustainable rural development and its movement to a secondary economic role after the reopening of the mine.

Keywords: boring peripheries; mining tourism; rural destination; stakeholders; sustainable rural development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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